Recap

During morning coffee rush at the Talon, Lois is working when Kevin Grady steals a muffin and a handful of cash out of the cash register. He blasts her with a green flash of light. Instantly, Lois has forgotten the incident and Kevin strolls away casually. Clark and Chloe walk in - they are discussing Clark's possible acceptance to the University of Miami. Clark says he feels guilty for leaving his parents to run the farm alone and Chloe vaguely remarks that it will be hard to replace him, given his "skills". Before Clark can reply, she changes the subject by giving Lois her order. Lois announces they've been robbed.

Clark gets blasted and gets amnesia.

Clark notices the back door swinging and goes into the alley to try and catch the thief. He stops Kevin's car just as he is about to drive away, and Kevin blasts Clark with a green flash of light. He is knocked back and, in a flash, Clark's memories zoom past. Chloe finds Clark in a daze and when she asks if he's all right, he merely says, "Who's Clark?"

Chloe takes Clark to an unfamiliar home.

Chloe takes Clark home, where he stares confused at the house he has grown up, and accidentally tears up the locked door. Lois is home and she tells Chloe that Jonathan and Martha are in Metropolis for a cardiologist's appointment and won't be back today. Chloe and Lois realize that the boy who robbed the Talon probably also wiped Clark's memory. Chloe decides to go to the Torch' office to see if she can find out what's causing Clark's amnesia, but then realizes that Clark would probably reveal his secret if left alone, so she takes him to his loft.

Jason is mad at Lana about her not wanting to go to college.

Jason gets upset with Lana when she announces that she is no longer going to enroll at CKU with him and that she's probably not going to college at all. She also states that their relationship has changed outside of Paris. Angry, Jason yells that he has done so much to protect her.

Chloe explains Clark his own powers.

Chloe explains Clark's own powers to him by telling him her theory: that he was affected by the meteor shower and has super powers. She tells him that he's saved many lives, including herself several times, and has self-appointed himself Smallville's hero. Clark says he and Chloe must have been close friends for him to have trusted Chloe with such a secret and she reluctantly admits that he didn't. But even without his memory, Clark knows that Chloe wouldn't betray him.

Chloe finds Kevin's motorpark pass.

She takes him back to the Talon, where he uses his X-ray vision to find a card under a floor mat and Chloe is slightly disturbed by this new ability. He muses why he just doesn't tell everybody what he can do and says he doesn't want to go back to a life of lying to everyone and not being himself. Chloe asks him to please reconsider "coming out", at least until his parents get back. Just then, Lana exits her apartment and Clark falls in love with her all over again, setting a lamp on fire with his heat vision, and Chloe hurriedly puts it out. Staring at Lana in wonder, he breathlessly asking who she is and Chloe sadly informs him that Lana Lang is the love of his life. That night, Lois goes to visit Clark in his loft, who is looking at pictures of Lana and studying drawings of the caves, and he correctly guesses that they don't get along.

Clark meets Lana at school

The next day at school, Clark approaches Lana and asks her what happened to their relationship. She says she doesn't know and Clark sadly realizes it was something he did. Clark says that this time will be different. Lana is uncomfortable with his implication, but they agree to meet later to talk about it. Lois and Chloe track him down and inform him that they found out who the card belonged to: a boy named Kevin Grady.

Kevin packs his bag.

At the Grady residence, Kevin is packing his bag when his father finds him. Kevin explains that wherever he was, they turned him into a freak and he knows that he can't stay because of what he did, so he is leaving for good. He zaps his father's memory and leaves. When Clark, Lois, and Chloe show up, Dr. Grady admits that Kevin was at the Summerholt Institute for memory treatment. He told them that Kevin had accidentally killed his brother Dillon while hunting, and that he was trying to get the tragedy erased from Kevin's memory.

Clark and Chloe meet Lex.

They go to visit Lex, who also had memory treatment at Summerholt. Lex gets Clark alone, but Chloe is worried and whispers to Clark to be careful and he hears her just as Lex starts to ask about the Kawatche Caves. They go to the caves and Clark begins to explain the secret area. Lex heavily suggests that Clark show him the drawings. Remembering Chloe's warning, Clark avoids it by saying he needs to get back home.

Lois and Clark watch the video

Chloe sneaks into the Summerholt Institute and finds video files of Kevin's treatment. Just after she emails them to the Torch, a hand grabs her from behind. Clark goes to the Torch to find her, but only Lois is there, viewing the videos which showed that Kevin did not kill his brother, but someone let him believe he did. He leaves to find Kevin and tell him the truth.

Kevin remembers the truth about his brother's death.

He finds him in the woods where his brother died. Kevin seems a bit guilty that all of Clark's memories are gone. Clark encourages Kevin to remember what really happened. Emotional, Kevin realizes that it was his father that shot his brother, not him. Near tears, he asks Clark why he's helping him and wishes he could return the favor. The two decide to break into Summerholt to see if they can find a cure for Clark's amnesia.

Chloe is connected to a medical equipment

Lois and Sheriff Adams are already there, since Lois can't get in touch with Chloe. Chloe is strapped down, begging to be let go and promising not to tell anybody what really happened. Dr. Grady is ready to wipe her memory clean. Clark and Kevin break into the buildung through a trap door and come into a room filled with jars of kryptonite. Clark is incapacitated for a time and tells Kevin to go on without him.

Clark intercepts the beam.

Kevin finds Chloe and confronts his father. Dr. Grady knocks him out and begins the treatment on Chloe. As a beam of energy is fired at her, Clark arrives and gets between it and Chloe. Another beam knocks out Mr. Grady. Clark's memory is restored, but the machine is overloaded and starts to collapse. Lois and Sheriff Adams arrive just in time to see Clark catch and toss away two large electrical columns before they crush Chloe. Kevin wakes up just then and blasts all three women. Lois and Sheriff Adams forget what they saw and Chloe forgets the treatment. Clark says to Kevin he owned him a favour, but Kevin tells him they were even and disappears. Dr. Grady is taken into custody by the police.

Clark meets Lex at the farm

Lex visits Clark at the farm, but with his memory restored, he doesn't give him any new information, only that he can't remember anything that happened in the past 24 hours. Lex lies that he just wanted to share his own amnesia experience. They act friendly, but Clark seems suspicious of Lex's motives and Lex seems disappointed that Clark's memory is restored. He leaves and it is revealed that he stole one of Clark's cave map drawings from his loft. Lana arrives and Clark doesn't understand why she's there. She vaguely alludes to the possibility that they had "date-kind-of-plans", but seems embarrassed and leaves. Clark calls her back and repeats that "this time will be different".

Chloe tells Clark he had trusted her

Clark goes to see Chloe and thanks her for looking after him. She says she never realized how complicated his life was. Clark looks worried, asking if he did anything unusual. He even pleads with her to be completely honest. Chloe simply says he only did one thing different - he trusted her. She leaves him to think about that.

Notes

The very fact that Clark's entire memory was erased by Kevin Grady's ability hints that a Kryptonian's brain can store vast amounts of information within a volume in which a human brain can just store the impressions of several minutes.

In this episode, Chloe finds out about the rest of Clark's abilities (X-ray vision, super hearing, and heat vision). With this Clark rediscovers his abilities in a similar manner as when he initially discovered them.

Lionel Luthor does not appear in this episode. Neither do Jonathan and Martha Kent, but they do appear in a deleted scene. Consequently, this is the first episode in which Martha Kent does not appear as such because she is not seen in the scenes shown in the episode. Furthermore, this is the first episode in Season 4 which not feature Jonathan Kent.

The way Clark saves Chloe near the end of this episode is strongly reminiscent of the rescue in Onyx, two episodes prior. Both times Clark catches two identical objects (previously two large pieces of concrete), one with each hand, shielding Chloe, who is immobile, under him. Both rescues are witnessed by a main character (Lex in Onyx) but they forget it soon afterwards.

Spoilers

Allusions

Chloe calls Clark's powers "super-Wheaties™ abilities", a reference to the General Mills breakfast cereal, famously nicknamed the "Breakfast of Champions" and associated with excellence in sports since it was introduced in 1924.